Sinter breaking apparatus



Dec. 20, 1960 v, KQONTZ 2,965,321

SINTER BREAKING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 21, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

VICTOR F. KOONTIZ.

i E BY M L5:

ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 20,1960 v, -rz 2,965,321

SINTER BREAKING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 21, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

VICTOR F. KOONTZ.

BY im ATTORNEYS.

SINTER BREAKING APPARATUS Victor F. Koontz, Coraopolis, Pa., assignor to Dravo Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 775,632

9 Claims. (Cl. 241-294) This invention relates to sintering apparatus used in the preparation of ore or other materials, and is for a breaker for breaking sintered masses into pieces or chunks of a desired maximum size, and the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 651,046, filed April 5, 1957, now abandoned.

It may be explained that in the process of making sinter, the sintered ore or other product is discharged from the pallet in which it is formed as a coherent mass, referred to as sinter cakes. It is usually desirable to break this cake into pieces or lumps of convenient size. This is accomplished by discharging the cake from the pallet in which it is formed onto a slide which delivers it to a grate-like support, sometimes referred to as grizzly bars. Cooperating with this is a rotary shaft on which is a series of hub elements, each having a plurality of integral radial arms forming a crusher, the arms of which pass between the bars to break the sinter cake.

During the breaking operation the sinter cake, which is inherently abrasive, has an average temperature of about 1000 F. The combination of heat and abrasion causes rapid wear on the breaker arms, necessitating frequent replacement.

Efforts have heretofore been made to reduce labor and material costs and down time by using replaceable chrome alloy tips on the ends of the breaker arms. These tips have been bolted or wedged in various ways to stub arms on the hubs. These have not been satisfactory because the bolts have yielded when subjected to stress under elevated temperature and the wedges have worked loose under repeated impact. p The present invention has for its principal object to provide an improved breaker in which the arms are formed separately from the hubs and securely retained in place in such manner that they may be quickly replaced 'when necessary. A further object of the invention is to provide a breaker in which the arms are held in hub assemblies, each of which has two sets of arms. A further object of the invention is to provide a wedge adjustment that will hold the arms against relative movement in the hub and prevent any looseness due to imperfect filling of the arms in the hub. These and other objects and advantages are secured by my invention which may be more fully described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a more or less schematic side elevation showing the location of the sinter cake breaker at the discharge of the sintering apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the sintering wheel, the section being in the plane of line IL-II of Fig. 3;.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through one of the hub units, the shaft being shown in elevation;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of one of the collars in the hub assembly;

.F-ig. 5. is a transverse vertical section through the member shown in Fig. 4, but with the bolts and wedge. blockstemovedth view being substantially in the plane 2,965,321 Patented Dec. 20, 196g of line V-V of Fig. 4, dotted lines indicating portions of the structure beyond the plane of the section being omitted for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 6 is an isometric view of one of the breaker arms;

Fig. 7 is an edge view thereof;

Fig. 8 shows the manner of applying the locking ring to the assembly, this being a more or less schematic view; and

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing the locking ring closed.

In the drawings, 2 designates the sprocket at the discharge end of a sintering unit over which the succession of pallets 3 are carried and inverted so that the sinter cake falls from each down slide plate 4 onto the grizzly bars 5. This arrangement of bars is a grate-like structure in which the heavy rigid bars 5 are supported in fixed spaced relation to one another.

Cooperating with the grates is the crushing wheel designated generally as 6, and which is so positioned that the bars projecting from the hub of the wheel pass down between the bars 5 and break the sinter cake into fragments which can fall through the bars.

This wheel comprises a non-circular shaft 7, preferably a shaft of hexagonal section. On this shaft are a plurality of like hub assemblies arranged in abutting endto-end relation, each assembly comprising two opposed collars 8 and 9, each having a central opening 10 to slidably and non-rotatably engage the shaft 7. Said collars have annular grooves or channels 11 in their confronting faces concentric about the axis of the shaft 7. The outer rim of the channel 11 is formed by a flange 13. At one or more points, preferably three equidistantly spaced points around the periphery, are notches 14.

There are provided breaker arms 15, each having a shank with oppositely extending lugs 15a thereon, the curvature of these lugs conforming to the channels 11 and which are designed to be received in the channels when the inner end portion of the arm is placed in one of the notches 14, the lugs substantially fitting the chan-' nels but being sufliciently loose that an arm may be readily inserted or removed. The shank of each arm extends radially from the curved base portion comprising the lugs 15a and is of a width and thickness to fit into the notches 14. Outside the diameter of the collars 8 or 9 as the case may be, the arms slope forwardly in the direction of rotation of the assembly, being inclined forwardly from a radius projected from the center of the shaft outwardly through the radial portion of the shank.

Spacing means is provided on the shaft between each pair of collars and is here shown as a shelf-like extension 16 projecting from the confronting'f aces of each of the collars, the two extensions abutting each other. The openings through the center of the collar and extensions are of the same size and shape, conforming to the shape of the shaft.

A split locking ring 17 removably surrounds the shaft and the abutting extension 16 of each two opposed collars in each assembly. It is wide enough to span the distance between the confronting faces of the teeth, so that once: the arms have been put in place and the locking ring applied, the arms are rigidly and firmly locked in place. If it is necessary to replace one of the arms at any time, the locking ring may be opened, the defective arm slippedsideways from the channel and notch, the replacement arm applied, and then the locking ring secured in place.

The locking ring is best shown in Fig. 8, being made in two halves with tangential mating bolt holes. For

replacing a locking ring a long rod 20 with a fixedeye 21 at one end and a nut with an eye 22 at the other end may be used. The two parts are spread on this rod with. the rod suspended from a hoist, the-' ring lowered about:

1 the sleeve of the hub. assembly, and bolted at the.bottom'.

3 Then rod 20 may be removed and replaced by a bolt and nut of proper size.

In apparatus of this kind, it is difficult to provide the lugs 15a and the arms 15 so as to have a close machined fit inthe channels 11 and notches 14, which will be readily replaceable and not chatter or develop looseness with the continued impact against the sinter, which, under the conditions of use and the abrasion of sinter dust increases. To overcome this, the end of each lug has a reverselysloped face 15b at each end thereof so that the end faces of two confronting lugs diverge inwardly toward the shaft with respect to each other, and there is a gap 23 between them of wedge shape which decreases in width outwardly. In this gap there is a wedge-shaped block 24 in the general shape of a truncated pyramid, having flatend faces that bear against faces 15b of the two lugs andflat sides, so that the wedge fits in the channel 11 but cannot rotate therein. Its thickness in a radial direction is less than the width of the channel 11 in the same direction, so that it may move radially to a limited extent. A bolt 25 having its head accessible at the exterior of the collar, passes radially through the outer rim of the collar into the channel and threaded through a registering opening in the wedge-block 24, so that upon turning the bolt, the wedge-block may be moved radially. The wedge-block is initially backed off to a position where it will not interfere with the insertion of the lugs 15 into the channel. When all of the arms are in place, the bolts 25 are turned to bring the wedge-blocks into tight relation with the sloped end faces 15b of the lugs, thus taking up any slack or play of the arms in the collars, and holding them against any chatter or looseness. Should looseness develop, the wedges may be again adjusted, but the arrangement is such that only by turning the bolts 25 can the wedge-blocks be loosened, so that they do not loosen under impact. The heads of the bolts are shown in recesses in the outer faces of the collars, so they preferably do not protrude.

With my invention the breaker arms are firmly locked in'place and the wedge blocks and adjusting bolts are not stressed in a manner to distort them, the principal holding means for the arms comprising the interfitting of the lugs on the arms in the grooves in the collars. When replacement is necessary, the opening of the split locking ring and the removal of one or more arms and their replacement is readily accomplished. The entire arm is expendable and may be cut from heavy plate, or cast or otherwise formed from relatively inexpensive metal. The force of any impact resulting from the arm striking the sinter cake is resisted by the side walls of the notches in the collars, and lugs 15a are not subjected to such stresses as to break or bend them.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment ofmy invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts within the contemplation of my invention and under the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

- 1. A sinter breaker comprising a shaft, a collar nonrotatably secured to the shaft, an annular groove in one face of the collar concentric with the shaft, said groove having a notch extending to the periphery of the collar, an arm in the notch having integral curved lugs extending in the plane of rotation of the collar in opposite directions from the base of the arm, the curvature of the lugs conforming to the curvature of the annular groove, said lugs being received in the groove, and removable means positioned against the grooved face of the collar and encircling the shaft for restraining the arm against movement in an axialdirection out of the notch.

'2. A sinter breaker having an arm with oppositely eirtending curved lugs at the base thereof, a collar having an annular groove in one face thereof concentric about the center: of the collar in which the arm is received with the curved lugs extending in opposite directions therefrom and disposed in the plane of rotation of the collar, the curvature of the lugs conforming substantially to the circular curvature of the annular groove, a rotatable shaft on which the collar is non-rotatably carried so that the collar rotates with the shaft, a diametrically split ring encircling the shaft and positioned against the grooved face of the collar for retaining the arm in the groove, and means releasably holding the split ring together to enable said ring to be removed.

3. A sinter breaker comprising a shaft, a plurality of spaced collars non-rotatably carried on the shaft, each collar having a concentric groove in one face thereof and having notches at intervals around the groove leading from the groove to the periphery of the collar, an arm having a shank portion set in each notch and having lugs at its inner end extending in opposite directions, said lugs being curved and fitting into the groove, the lugs on each arm extending toward the lugs of the next arm but beingv spaced therefrom, and removable means at the faces of the collars removable peripherally of the assembly for retaining the arms against relative movement in the direction of the axis of the shaft in the grooves.

4. A sinter breaker as defined in claim 3 in which there is a radially adjustable wedge block in the space between each two confronting lugs against which said lugs are confined.

5. A sinter breaker comprising a shaft, a plurality of hub assemblies non-rotatably carried on the shaft, each assembly comprising a pair of collars on the shaft having annular grooves in their confronting faces and having means between them for holding said faces in spaced rela-- tion, the said grooved faces having notches formed therein leading from the groove to the periphery of the collar, arms having base portions set in the notches, the base portions of the arms having arcuately-shaped lugs at each edge, which lugs are received in the grooves, and a sectional clamping ring between the two collars encircling the spacing means and abutting against the grooved faces for preventing displacement of the arms in the direction of the length of the shaft.

6. A sinter breaker as defined in claim 5 in which the arcuately-shaped lugs of one arm are spaced from the lugs of the adjacent arms, the ends of the lugs being sloped so that the confronting ends of the lugs diverge inwardly, a wedge block in each groove fitted in the space between each two confronting lug ends, and means for adjusting the wedges radially of the collarin which it is mounted. V

7. A sinter breaker as defined in claim 6 in which'said means for adjusting the wedge comprises a bolt passing radially from the exterior of the collar into the groove with its inner end threaded through the wedge, the. outer end of the bolt being accessible at the exterior of the collar for turning the bolt.

8. A sinter breaker having a plurality of arms with oppositely extending curved lugs at the base thereof, a collar having an annular groove in one face thereof and a plurality of notches extending from the recess to' the periphery of the collar, the curvature of the lugs 'conforming to the curvature of the annular groove, said arms being set in the notches with the lugs received in the grooves and disposed in the plane of rotation of the collar and constituting the entire means for'restrainin'g the arms against radial movement outward, the arm's bein'g removable from the grooves by moving. themgin' a direction normal to the grooved face of the collar',.arotatable shaft on which the collar is fixed aradiallysplit sectional sleeve about the shaft bearing against the grooved face of the collar for holding the arms against movement in a direction normal to the grooved face of the collar, andmeans for releasably securing the sections of the sleeve together.

" '9. -A sinter breaker as defined in claim8 inwhich -the're 5 are radially adjustable wedge blocks in the groove between the ends of the lugs of an arm and the ends of the lugs of the next arm and against which the lugs abut, and means accessible at the exterior of the collar for individually adjusting the wedge blocks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Velde Jan. 15, 1918 Landenberger May 7, 1950 Horth Feb. 19, 1957 Schmidt Jan. 20, 1959 

